(soft pulsating atmospheric music) - There are a million ways this project could've gotten killed.

It didn't have to happen this way, and it is uncommon for a community to be able to pull something like this off.

- The Riverfront was desolate.

It was abandoned.

It was in total disrepair.

- Tall piles of cement, burned out buildings, abandoned cars, eroding shoreline.

It was not a place where anyone would have any reason for visiting.

- I grew up in Detroit, and I didn't know we had a Riverfront.

Unless you went to Belle Isle, you never saw it.

♪ This is Detroit ♪ I like to live in this town ♪ My neighbors are people to care ♪ - [Woman With Short Hair] You had the cement silos there.

You had aggregate everywhere.

It was pretty bad.

♪ Detroit, Detroit, my home - It was just real industrial when I started working at the Riverfront.

At the time, it was kind of like, "Are we really gonna make this a beautiful Riverfront?"

I just couldn't see it.

It was just so much work that had to be done.

♪ Ooh - [Preview Narrator] Detroit.

It literally means straight or river.

So when we talk about our waterfront, the words are as important as the thing itself.

The water that flows past our city is our city, and it shapes so much of who we are.

(upbeat soulful music) Another sign of Detroit's revitalization can be found on the Ford Motor Company's soon to open Michigan Central Station campus.

A facility called Newlab uses cutting-edge technology to help bring ideas to life for the city's innovative startups.

The state-of-the-art operation is helping Detroit compete with coastal tech hubs.

(soft rhythmic music) Next to the iconic Michigan Central Station in Detroit's oldest neighborhood, Court Town, a cutting edge facility called Newlab at Michigan Central has quickly become a hub for tech companies and entrepreneurs.

Since opening in 2023, 90 companies have joined.

CEO Cameron Lawrence is at the helm.

- It's becoming this amazing ecosystem.

You're seeing entrepreneurialism on a day-to-day basis.

You're seeing products come from vision to reality in real time, and it's actually a really special place that I think Detroiters can really be proud of.

- [Narrator] Newlab was built from the skeleton of a former book depository.

- This is an old decrepit building.

It had a long history in the city but was, you know, overlooked.

It was abandoned, but man, look around.

Bones are fantastic, right?

So we have this history of taking historic buildings and creating something new, and this kind of poetry between what it was in the past and what it can be as a center of excellence for a city in the future.

- [Narrator] Open to the public, the first floor is full of displays from the startup companies calling Newlab home, a cafe, and plenty of meeting and workspaces, all underneath a massive glass ceiling.

The new aesthetics pay homage to the past with exposed beams and pillars, but what makes Newlab more than a historic building turned coworking space is the hardware amenities available to startups.

- [Cameron] Because we have all the best in class equipment here, we're taking months, if not years, off their product development cycle.

- [Narrator] Newlab Michigan Central is the sister facility to the original Newlab in Brooklyn that's home to over 200 startup companies.

Newlab's mission is to compete with coastal tech hubs to spark job creating innovation and attract the talent needed to fill those jobs to the Detroit region.

- I'm seeing the entrepreneurs choose to call Detroit home, and they're building their companies and their products outta here, and seeing the amount of pride the city is taking in becoming a bit of a hotbed for innovation and entrepreneurialism from where it was, that gives me a huge amount of pride in what my team and Michigan Central are building here.

- [Narrator] As Detroit's revitalization has continued over the years, Newlab has also been embraced by the city.

- I found that in a very short period of time, this has been a real source of civic pride.

I mean we have a lot of, you know, significant leaders in the community that are here quite regularly.

They're celebrating our wins.

- Cementing its footprint and commitment to Detroit with things like the nation's first-ever wireless charging roadway, Newlab shows no signs of slowing down.

- Walk around the concourse floor.

There are so many great examples of the prototypes of companies that we support, whether it be Tarform's like electric motorbike to Grounded's RV to LIVAQ's off-road vehicle.

You can't leave this building without being inspired by our founders and what they're building.

It's beyond magical.

This is a place where you see stuff actually get built, and you don't see that everywhere.